Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 1 witnessed use cases of 5G across different sectors in a live demo of the new telecom technology at the India Mobile Congress (IMC) 2022. Earlier, the PM inaugurated the IMC and launched 5G services in the country.
Compared to currently deployed 4G, 5G provides faster data download rates. It is expected to usher in use cases in areas such as agriculture, education, health, transport, traffic management, smart cities, smart homes, and multiple applications of Internet of Things (IoT).
PM Modi saw telecom major Reliance Jio’s use case, aimed at using 5G in the education sector. He witnessed the benefits of a collaborative and immersive experience that 5G will usher in the sector. The use case was introduced by author Amish Tripathi.
It showed how Jio True 5G connected classrooms across the country with a teacher at a central location. The teacher used virtual reality (VR) to explain complex concepts to the students.
Interacting with the students, Modi enquired about their experience of learning by using the new technology. He asked a student whether not having a teacher physically present in the classroom made any difference to the learning experience.
The student, from Ropda Primary School, Ahmedabad, said the technology enabled them to learn without the need for a teacher to be physically present inside the classroom.
5G impact
5G is expected to exponentially grow the country’s digital economy in the coming years. Its cumulative impact on the Indian economy is expected to reach $450 billion by 2035. The technology is expected to impact everything, from manufacturing, drone operations, tele-medicine, gaming, education, and entertainment, among others.
The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MeitY) says that 5G can be a transformational force for Indian society, unleashing new economic opportunities and societal benefits.
“It will help the country leapfrog barriers to development, spur innovation, and advance the Digital India vision,” the ministry had said in a statement on Friday.
5G spectrum auctions were conducted recently, and 51,236 MHz was allocated to telecom service providers (TSP). The government netted revenues of Rs 150,173 crore.
Corporates gung-ho
RIL chairman Mukesh Ambani said 5G would help in accelerating India's growth by making the country a 40-trillion dollar economy by 2047, up from $3 trillion today. He also announced that Jio will launch 5G services across the country by December 2023.
Jio is rapidly progressing to roll out 5G services within this month and "will launch affordable 5G services and cover every nook and corner of the country by December 2023," he added.
Bharti Airtel will offer 5G services in eight cities, including Delhi, Varanasi, Mumbai and Bengaluru, chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal said on October 1. He added that the company would roll out 5G services in several cities by March 2023 and across India by March 2024.
Mittal said 5G services would spawn several use cases, 1,000 more entrepreneurs and dozens of unicorns— start-ups valued at $1 billion or more—in the coming years.
Aditya Birla Group chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla said Vodafone Idea would soon start rolling out 5G services but he did not provide a timeframe. He, however, said Vodafone Idea would leverage its strong presence in rural India, enterprise customers and tech partners as well as the global expertise of the UK-based Vodafone Group for progressively rolling out 5G network and services.
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